USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of Mifflin County : its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &c. ; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania Volume I > Part 16
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and pretense, whose sense of duty is his law, whose word is his bond, a marked characteristic of conscientious integrity.
John M. Shadle, Esq.
Among the old substantial families of Kishacoquillas Valley is the subject of this notice. His paternal ancestor, Samuel Shadle, was a native of Hanover, Germany ; came to America when young,. and shortly after his arrival he enlisted as a soldier in the revolu- tionary war which was then in progress. He continued in the service of the United States until the close of the war, when he setteld in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and raised a family of sons and daughters, all of whom are dead, except Samuel, who resides in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. From thence he moved to Huntingdon county, where he remained until worn down by age, and there he died, and was interred in the ceme- tery, upon a hill near McAlvey's Fort. Henry, his son, came to Mifflin county when quite young, and located in Brown town- ship, where he married and made his permanent home until his decease, December 2, 1875, in the seventy-seventh year of his age .. He left descendants, two daughters and one son. The son, John M., whose name heads this notice, still resides in the township of Brown. His family is one daughter and two sons, the oldest of whom, S. W., studied law in the city of Lancaster, and is there at the present time engaged in the practice.
The maternal ancestor of the subject of whom we write was a native of Mifflin county. Her father and mother both came from Ireland, and located in Kishacoquillas Valley, and lived most of their time in Brown township, and here they both passed to their final reward at au advanced age.
John M. Shadle is one of Kishacoquillas Valley's most substantial men, where all are so remarkably noted as of that class. The forest oak of immense height and dimensions on the open plain or wide prairie is a conspicuous object, but in the immense forest surround- ed by others of mammoth proportions the same as itself, it is less conspicuous and notably prominent. Mr. Shadle is one of those rare combinations of pleasant, genial sociablity and square, rigid,. frank, business talent. He is the artificer of his own fortune, self- reliant and prudent, consequently successfully illustrating the fact. that the shadows that cross our pathway of life are those we make by standing in our own light.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
The Means Family.
Our efforts have been unavailing in procuring data of the Means family, though we have done our best to secure information as full as possible of this old first-class family. We have only been able to ascertain that Robert Means came from Berks county in 1770, and located in Ferguson's Valley, his father with him at that time. Robert Means, above named, was the grandfather of the middle- aged men of that name now of Ferguson's Valley. His descend- ants were seven or eight in number ; but of whom Robert A. Means an old resident of Ferguson's Valley, and Mrs. McFarlane, of Low- istown, are the only survivors. Robert A., was born August 8th, 1801, on the old farm, the home of his ancestors, where he still re- sides. His descendants, seven in number, all living, only three however in Mifflin county, the others west and in Philadelphia. The mother of these seven died in 1875. The business of this fam- ily has been farming for all the time of their long residence here on the old home farm. The Means ancestry were signers of the call for James Johnston to the pastoral of the old stone church in 1783, and on the tax-list of the first assessment in Mifflin county, made in 1790, both of which are recorded in another part of this work. Friends and relatives of the family of this same name we have met in Brookville, Jefferson county, Pennsylvania ; others re- side in Tazewell, McLean and Brown counties, Illinois. We are compelled to this extreme brevity in this notice of one of the oldest and most influential families in the county for want of further data
Dr. S. Belford.
Born in Mifflin county in 1814, Dr. Belford is no new comer amongst us. He spent some time in the city of Harrisburg, where he acquired the profession of dentistry, but has been a resident of Lewistown for half a century. During this lapse of time some changes have transpired, and almost an entire change in the popu- lation. As a proof of this we can cite the fact that fifty years ago there was but one cemetery in Lewistown. Since then all the others have been established and are very thickly populated with those who have gone "over the river, that cold, dark river, to gardens and flelds that are blooming forever." The subject of this notice was married in 1834 to Miss Wiley, a sister of the celebrated Bishop Wiley, of the M. E. Church, who is a native of Mifflin county. Their son, James B., was born in 1837. Studied law in Lewistown. Went to practice in Missouri and Indiana. While in the latter State he
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
received an appointment as Supreme Judge of Colorado. He went to that State, served in the capacity in which he was appointed with such satisfaction to the people that he has served in two sessions of Congress, and re-elected a member of the Forty-sixth Congress, and is a member at the present time. The second marriage of Dr. Bel- ford was in 1859, to Miss Snyder, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a son by the last marriage, aged nineteen years, is a cadet at Annap- olis, Maryland, from the Twentieth Congressional district, and is now in his second years' service, and is making splendid progress His name is Samuel E. Belford. Judge Belford's official record is flattering in the highest degree. He has held several positions in an official capacity in townships, borough and county, and is now one of the associate judges of our court. These continued promo- tions, are their own commentary on the fidelity and ability with which his official duties have been performed. He has been en- gaged in the dentistry for over thirty years. His mechanical abili- ties are proven by his large practice. His record places him among our most substantial citizens, socially, mechanically and profession- ally.
George Buffington.
The ancestry of the gentleman above-named were residents of Dauphin county, and there was he born, of whom we now write, on the 27th of October, 1828. There his limited education was ob- tained and his early habits of life were formed. In his boyhood days he made the best possible use of the limited educational facil- ities the country afforded at that time or his means afforded. No time was wasted in truancy, but his business was the improvement of his mind. He never, as he grew older, learned that a season of wild oats sowing was necessary or essential to make a man. It is superfluous to add that in all the relations of life, the duties there- of have been faithfully and efficiently discharged. A pleasant per- sonal acquaintance has existed between the writer and the subject of whom we write, and it affords us pleasure to record him a gen- tleman of fine natural endowments and acquired abilities ; an en- viable reputation, official and social, and is a valuable contribution to the population of Mifflin county ; and by his strict attention to the business of the county in his official capacity and fidelity to those interests committed to his. care, he is being amply rewarded if not financially, he is by the confidence and growing esteem of his personal and business friends. The business of Mr. Buffington
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before being called to his present official position, was a plasterer. He learned his trade in this county, and mixed and daubed on the walls the best mud any man in Mifflin county ever done for the term of nineteen years. He then engaged in railroading, which occupation he followed for nine years, when he again resumed his former occupation for five years. He was elected a constable in the beginning of the war but went into the army instead of quali. fying and serving in that office and remained in the army until dis- charged. In 1878, the people of Mifflin county wanted a capable and responsible man to fill the office of sheriff, and in looking over its numerous population for the right man, they found him at the mortar bed with his hoe and shovel, hod and trowal, and said to him drop those and go into the employ of the county. This eall was so peremptory and without mueh regard to party that he was prone to obey though it eame unsolicited, but the hod and trowel were not dropped on receiving the nomination but after his election. It is very commendable to the people of Mifflin county that they could discard party and make the selection they did impartially on per- sonal merit. In 1857, September 2d, on the approach of the autumnal equinox, when the frosts of winter would soon paint the forests on the mountain slopes in many hues preceding the wintry winds " when the sun comes so slow and the flowers haste to blos- som ere the summer shall go," Mr. Buffiington took unto himself a wife in the person of Miss Mary R. Landis, a member of one of the prominent old families of lower Pennsylvania. Their only family is one son, a pleasant young gentleman of good business abilities, aged about nineteen years.
Comment of the above record would be superfluous, as his own history, a statement of facts is the best and most practical en comium. It might be in place, however, to state that the people of Mifflin county have never regretted calling him to his present position with the unanimity they did ; but were it to do over again, they would repeat it in louder and more emphatic terms.
The Yeager Fannly.
Among the old and substantial families of Mifflin county is the one above-named, not only conspicuous from their long residence, but from the high position they have occupied for three generations morally, intellectually, religiously and in the business interests of our county.
John Jacob Yeager was born March 11, 1793, in Dauphin county,
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Pennsylvania, and his wife, Susannah, daughter of George Buffing- ton, born also in Dauphin county, August 25, 1790. Their descend- ants were Jonathan, born June 21, 1817, now living at Yeargertown ; Simon, born November 20, 1818, now dead ; Daniel, born October 29, 1820, also dead ; Moses, born 26th of June, 1822, now dead, also Benjamin and Jeremiah M .; dates of birth unknown to the writer. The sons of the latter are William J., James M. and Jesse O. It is a matter of regret that we cannot obtain, at this time, some of the early experiences of this family and more data of their pro- gress. Our acquaintance with the young gentleman last named'is of such a nature that we can unreservedly say of them that we have met no better, substantial intelligence, or higher order of business abilities, or reliability and high moral and religious character in pour acquaintance. These are the qualifications that are the hope of our country, and the best business capital with which any young man can go forth into the world. We know a young man who came to the East from the far West without means, acquaintances or other influence than his own personal integrity and business abil- ity, and at the age of nineteen years. His first work was a subor- binate position in a bank in the city of his adoption. He was soon made cashier, with power to employ his own subordinates. Here he served five years, and then took a responsible position requiring a high order of ability in a commercial business, which he still oc- cupies. Wealth, education and influential friends are of no avail to any young man's success in life without a high-toned morality, busi- ness integrity and a sense of right.
The Campbell Family of Kishacoquillas Valley.
The ancestry of this prominent and influential connection came to Kishacoquillas Valley, on May 5, 1774. and took up the lands that now, after the lapse of over a century are still in the hands of their descendants and constitute the magnificent farms where those named below have their splendid homes, and enjoying the fruits of their own, and their ancestor's industry and excellent management. Their first location was where Robert Campbell now lives, and near here stands.the old oak tree under which they first stopped. The names of the first ancestry were ROBERT and JANE CAMPBELL. They came from Ireland here, as did most of the original inhabi- tants of this valley. A Mr. John Campbell married a sister of the above named Robert Campbell, and they also have left numer- vous descendants, making the name very numerous and common in
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
this region of Pennsylvania. All were of Scotch origin, and went from there to Ireland, and then to this country. Robert Campbell was a cooper by trade, and after a long residence here, he died in 1821, at the ripe age of nine-three years. The descendants of Robert Campbell were Joseph and John. Joseph's children were Isabella, Margaret, Jane, Joseph, Elizabeth L., Hugh MeC., An- drew W., Robert D., Mary and Rachel. Five of the above named are still living.
John's family were Robert, Margaret, John O., James, Rachel J., Andrew, Robert D. and Joseph, all residing here, also a cousin of the above named Robert Campbell resides near them. For a picture of beauty, the reader should take a view of the magnificent wheat fields now on these farms as "they stretch in airy undulations far away, as if the ocean in his gentlest swell stood still with all his rounded billows fixed and motionless forever." We have never seen a better rural picture of happy farm life.
"It is here that all nature has spread over the scene,
4. Her purest of crystal and brightest of green, It is here the soft magic of streamlet and hill, But here there is something more exquisite still, It is here that dear friends and kind neighbors are near; Who make each dear scene of enchantment more dear, And we see how the blest charms of nature improve, When we see them reflected from looks that we love. Sweet Kishacoquillas how calm could we rest In thy bosoms of shades with the friends we love best, Where the storms that we feel in this cold world shall cease; Where all hearts like thy waters roll rippling in peace."
There is not on this world a valley more sweet
Than this vale in whose bosom these bright streamlets meet;
O, the last rays of feeling and life must depart,
Ere the charms of this valley shall fade from my heart."
The occupation of the Campbell family has generally been farming, and most successful too has it been, as the present state of affairs most amply testify. Joseph Campbell has six living descendants, Robert Douglass two, and Andrew one. Joseph is now at the age of sixty-two, Robert D., about forty-five, and Andrew fifty-six years, all stout, healthy and robust, and bid fair for many more years of happiness to themselves, their families and neighbors. These gen- tlemen have been the substantials of Kishacoquillas Valley for the term of their lives. They have been called on to fill the official positions of county, township and school districts, as all good citi-
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
zens are, and in the most important of all, viz: school director, Joseph served a fifteen years' term. It is superfluous for us to speak personally of these gentlemen, in this work. It is only for local circulation, and every citizen of Mifflin county knows these gentlemen, for their personal acquaintance and influence pervades not only in the county, but has a wider range, has ever been for the good and well-being of the country and community that has. been blessed with their citizenship.
The Wilson Family
of West End, Kishacoquillas Valley.
It is impossible at this date to give a history of this interesting old pioneer family. So cariy and so numerous, holding a most impor- tant influence in all the moral and religious works of their day. When the Greenwood Presbyterian church was first organized, there were nine Wilson families in that organization, the descendants of John Wilson, an carly pioneer of West End. When they went to. church with their rifles, and two men stood at the door as gnards. during the services, the old Greenwood church was a structure. of round logs, that was superseded as people became more aristo- cratic by a hewed log structure, and this by a brick edifice. The history of the Wilson family would be a history of this church as well, and the first temperance society in Mifflin county was one formed in a family named Wilson, by the mother. This was a noble movement in a mother at that age, and in those times, only to prove again that the mother gives not only the health and physical vigor to her offspring, but their mental powers as well, lience we find the descendants of this mother what they are at this day and age.
The first elders of this Greenwood Church were Messrs. Wilson, Flemming and Semple, and services were held here as early as 1775, and was a part of James Johnston's charge, after his arrival in 1783, at the Little Stone Church of East End; John Wilson, in 1796, where the woolen mills now stand. Here he raised a family . and spent his remaining years, and here he died in 1832. His son, John Wilson, was born here in 1791, and married and located here. His family consisted of two most amiable and intelligent daughters, who are his sole representatives. The former John Wilson, Senior, had a family of twelve children, nearly all of whom are residents of Mifflin county, but some are in Illinois. It would be superfin- ous to add that they are all most substantial citizens. John Wil-
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
son, Junior, died in 1870, in March, aged near eighty years. They, with the other pioneers, were the original farmers of this county, and the pioneers in the church as well. The Wilsons and Camp- bells constituted the West End Church in its beginning and ever since, included in it about four generations, and the church edifice would have to be enlarged if many other names were added. But jesting aside, there are no higher honors, no more pioneer history of which the present generation can be more justly proud than to look back over four generations of their ancestry as these two fam- ilies can, and find their paternal maternal origin, the pillars of God's house. This, the Wilsons and the Campbells can both do with the utmost satisfaction.
The Milliken Family.
James Milliken, the great-grandfather of the families of his de- scendants now in Mifflin county, came from county Down, in " Erin's Green Isle," in 1772, and located in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, on the Kanawago Creek, but helived but one month after his arrival, when he passed to his final reward. His wife's name was Elizabeth Davis. Their descendants were one son and four daughters. He had a brother, a well-to-do farmer in their native island home, who remained in that country. The son of James Milliken, named Samuel Milliken, soon after the death of his father came to Kishacoquillas Valley in the year 1772. He married Margaret Foster in 1775. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean five times. The lands in the valley he bought of Henry Drinker for twelve shillings per acre. The tract was called the Bolton tract. At the time of his death he owned over 1,000 acres. He was born in 1736, and died in 1804. His sons were James, Robert, Joseph, David, Foster, two daughters, Barbara and Jane. One son, Samuel, died in his sixteenth year.
James and Barbara were brought to Hope's place, then owned by John Holt, by their father to protect them from the Indians. James was four years old, and Barbara two years old in 1782. James Milliken came to Lewistown to reside in 1810. In February 1804, he made a journey to Pittsburgh, thus, he rode on horse-back to the foot of the Alleghenies, and on foot over those mountains and to Pittsburgh. From there he went down the Ohio River to Georgetown, where Wellsville now is, on a flat boat. There he bought flour, and started on the way to New Orleans, trading with the Indians for skins, furs, &c., on the way. He remained there
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
some weeks, and took passage on a steamer called "The Monon- gahela Farmer," for Philadelphia, and came home in stage and on foot. He was born 19th of January, 1776, married to Miss Ann Cunningham, of Chester county, October 28, 1812; died, 12th of June, 1851, leaving four descendants. The Milliken family in all its relations has been an important element in the history of Mifflin county, in the early days, in the general pioneer labers. Falkner, of Fort Granville notoriety, was a cousin of James Milliken, and in later years this family can be said to have controlled the most important business interest of Lewistown, having located here in 1810, when there were less than 800 inhabi- tants, and no churches in the town. From his "recollections," noted by his daughter when he was at an advanced age, we get valuable data for this work. In 1782, when the McNitt boy was taken, he noted the case. They took him over the seven moun- tains, and camped over night, and the boy being barefooted, the Indians took a pair of large moccasins and cut them down and re- made them to fit the boy, to protect his tender feet. The chief, Logan, was often at his home, and he also made a memorandum of little Nancy Brown's moccasins made by Logan during the day she spent at his cabin, near Logan's Springs, above Brown's Mills. He noted the scarcity of game in Big Valley in 1780, and many Indians go to southern Ohio. The Indians where Lewistown now is, were the six nations and the chief Kish-Co-Keelis, gave the name to the creek and Big Valley. Allen C., son of James Milli- ken, and a graduate of Princeton College, died September 18, 1849, at Petersburg, Huntingdon county, Pa .; Samuel resides at Holli- daysburg ; Anna at Toledo, Ohio; the wife of Judge Potter, Mary, is a resident of Lewistown, the home of the family for three- fourths of a century, and the only one of that long prominent name in Lewistown, or in the county, except the families in Kisha- coquillas Valley.
Joseph Milliken's children were, Margaret, the wife of D. W. Woods of Lewistown, Phoebe, wife of Mr. Earnest, a missionary to India for many years, Elizabeth, wife of Major Patton, Mary, wife of Mr. Russel, Emily, wife of Mr. Dewees, Sally, wife of Mr. Hemp- hill of Hollidaysburg, and Maria, wife of Colonel McMurphey of the same place. William, the oldest son, is in Minnesota, and Sam- uel J., near Philadelphia, a minister in the Presbyterian church. Joseph died in the State of Georgia, and a son named James died in infancy. The important business influences exerted for the
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
prosperity and advancement of the financial interests of Mifflin county, we may never know, but from their location here in 1810, they exerted an influence that it is the lot of but few to wield. Kind and benevolent in their natures, their word was their bond, and the credits and kind indulgences and leniencies given to many of the old primitive inhabitants by them, were the elements of the success of those to whom these indulgencies were given, The writer had visited their extensive store in Lewistown fifty years ago, when a little boy, and we looked and wondered at the immense stock, as it then appeared to our boy's eyes. What changes time has wrought.
He is bringing the child to maturity, Robbing youth of its bloom, Sprinkling the heads of the aged with white, And laying them low in the tomb, He is laying his hand with irreverent touch On forheads so white and so fair. Never again they'll be, what they were then, For he leaves his finger marks there.
But let us not think that time in his flight, Leaves nothing but sorrow behind, Though from many he snatches the pleasures of life, To others he seemeth more kind. And thus he will march on for ages, Long after we sleep neath the flowers, At death we pass from his influence, For eternity then will be ours.
W'm. Mann, Sr.,
Was the father of WILLIAM MANN, JR. The founder of the axe factory under the name and title of WILLIAM MANN, JR. & Co. These works are situated in the Short Narrows, of Jack's Moun- tain, on Kishacoquillas Creek, in Brown and Derry townships. He was a native of New Braintree, Massachusetts. William Mann, Jr., was born in Johnstown, Montgomery county, New York, in 1804, and removed to Bellefonte, Centre county, Pennsylvania, in 1829, and engaged in business there with his brother, H. Mann, and remained there for five years. He then removed to Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the axe manufacturing busi- ness but remained there but one year. From there he went to Freehold, New York, and engaged in the same business, but only for the short period of six months, when he came to Mifflin county and located in the Narrows, where these extensive works are now
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
located. This was done in 1835. These works were started in a very small way, manufacturing on an average of but six axes per day. He done all his work with the assistance of a helper, but snecess most remarkable attended his efforts, and the works grew to immense proportions. William Mann, Jr., died in 1855, and after that date the business was carried on by his successors, and continued to increase as it had formerly done in enlarged manu- facture and shipments to various parts of the world. William Mann was killed by a steamer's boiler explosion on the Ohio River, near Shawneetown, Illinois, May the 17th, 1876. Sinee which time the business has been conducted by JAMES H. MANN, under the old firm name of William Mann, Jr. & Co. These extensive works now manufacture an average of 1,400 axes per day. They work from 200 to 250 men, and their goods are sold and shipped to not only every State in the United States, but are sent to Australia, New Zealand, New South Wales, China, Japan, Norway, Sweden. Capetown in Africa, all over Western Europe, and the demand is steadily increasing, a result of fine mechanical skill, business abil- ity and Juniata Iron. These three combined are the elements of success. In 'a walk through these extensive works we were sur- prised at the means used and the ends accomplished. The entting of the iron, the bending, heating, welding, tempering, finishing, grinding, polishing, marking, labeling, packing, shipping and other minute processes, being ignorant of we cannot name, were a wonder to our eyes. One feature marked every process, both of manufacture and of business, without which neither could be sue- cessful, and that is perfect system and regularity iu all the details of everything. It is our opinion that this important industry is not sufficiently appreciated by our people. Here from this mountain gorge where the Indian trail is superseded by the railroad and the turnpike, and the pack horse and the eanoe by the railroad car and locomotive, from here emanates the utensil used by the savage and civilized man, that has ehopped its way not only to the coun- tries of Europe, but to China and Japan, " whose fast-barred doors so long their empire hid," and as before stated, system, mechanical skill, business ability and the superior quality of Mifflin county iron ore combined this marked success.
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